Trip-Adventure

Backpack Travel is a form of international travel that is closely associated withindependent travel and budget travel, and related in many ways to adventure travel. Backpack travel is characterized by the desire to keep costs low, travel for months at a time, and gain a deeper understanding of different cultures. An entire worldwide industry of backpacker lodges, guesthouses, restaurants, transportation, and side tour operators serving backpack travelers has emerged in many third world cities.

Backpack travel and independent travel are in many ways synonymous, except that as the industry matures, more and more backpack travel is done in the form of small group travel tours. Backpack travel and adventure travel are closely related in that many backpack travelers are seeking adventure, but not all adventure travel is of the budget backpack travel variety.

Backpack Travel’s roots go back to the time of Marco Polo on the Silk Road to Asia, but it was the Hippie trail Movement of the 1960′s and 1970′s that ushered in the backpack travel era. The Hippie Trail, originated as an overland road and train crossing from Western Europe to the Southeast Asia. While it followed part of the Silk Road, political expedience meant that travelers headed south of the true Silk Road. Important backpack travel stops on the Hippie trail included Istanbul, Teheran, Kabul, Varanasi, Kathmandu, Bangkok, and Denpassar. Hippies on the Hippie Trail were indeed the earliest backpack travelers. Tony and Maureen Wheeler, the founders of Lonely Planet Guidebooks, were among the early backpack travelers on the Hippie Trail.

By 1980, with the Soviet invasion of and guerilla war in Afghanistan and the Iranian revolution, the Hippie trail was dead. In its place, what many refer to as the Banana Pancake trail, became the de facto rite of passage for backpack travelers. Fueled by higher disposable incomes and lower international airfares, backpack travel in Southeast Asia became a major phenomenon in the 1980′s. As more and more travelers came, more and more guesthouses and lodges and infrastructure emerged. Some good, some bad. Backpack travel ghettos with guesthouse, lodges, restaurants, and souvenir shops catering to those on a budget, sprang up in places like Thamel in Kathmandu, Jalan Jaksa in Jakarta, Kuta in Bali, and of course the infamous Khao San Road in Bangkok. Throughout the 1980′s and 1990′s, the Banana Pancake trail pressed out in multiple directions, down into Goa, India, up into Lhasa, Tibet, and over to Dali Lake and Chengdu in China.

Backpack Travel’s roots go back to the time of Marco Polo on the Silk Road to Asia, but it was the Hippie trail Movement of the 1960′s and 1970′s that ushered in the backpack travel era. The Hippie Trail, originated as an overland road and train crossing from Western Europe to the Southeast Asia. While it followed part of the Silk Road, political expedience meant that travelers headed south of the true Silk Road. Important backpack travel stops on the Hippie trail included Istanbul, Teheran, Kabul, Varanasi, Kathmandu, Bangkok, and Denpassar. Hippies on the Hippie Trail were indeed the earliest backpack travelers. Tony and Maureen Wheeler, the founders of Lonely Planet Guidebooks, were among the early backpack travelers on the Hippie Trail.

By 1980, with the Soviet invasion of and guerilla war in Afghanistan and the Iranian revolution, the Hippie trail was dead. In its place, what many refer to as the Banana Pancake trail, became the de facto rite of passage for backpack travelers. Fueled by higher disposable incomes and lower international airfares, backpack travel in Southeast Asia became a major phenomenon in the 1980′s. As more and more travelers came, more and more guesthouses and lodges and infrastructure emerged. Some good, some bad. Backpack travel ghettos with guesthouse, lodges, restaurants, and souvenir shops catering to those on a budget, sprang up in places like Thamel in Kathmandu, Jalan Jaksa in Jakarta, Kuta in Bali, and of course the infamous Khao San Road in Bangkok. Throughout the 1980′s and 1990′s, the Banana Pancake trail pressed out in multiple directions, down into Goa, India, up into Lhasa, Tibet, and over to Dali Lake and Chengdu in China.

Backpack travel has become very mainstream, and with that most of the formerly great backpack travel destinations have one by one started to lose their authenticity. This is inevitable. Don’t complain. By going there, you’re part of the problem. While almost everywhere on the backpackers circuit is still worth going to, don’t be surprised by backpacker ghettos with hoards of souvenir shops, run down guesthouses, and prostitution– use them as bases to find those still untouched places with real authenticity. Definitely go to Angkor Wat with it’s hordes of tour groups, buy some souvenirs, and eat a few banana pancakes in Siem Reap, but by all means, take the time to see the real Cambodia and find a village off the beaten track to see real Cambodian life.

Be especially wary of small group travel companies selling “off-the-beaten-track” cultural adventures. Ask a lot of questions about itineraries- some itineraries are good, and some are not so good. In some locations they are pulling an elaborate charade on clients making them think they are going someplace “real” when in reality, you’re the fourth group of tourists those monks at that perfect temple have seen that day from your company.